Seeing Dylan, Finn paused with his hand still tucked half in his bright orange top.“Would you—”
Dylan shook his head.“No need.I’m fine.”
Kira glared as Finn dropped his hand.“Why not ask me?”
“I forgot.Just like you forgot to warn me to bring civilian clothes.”
Kira’s mouth snapped closed.
Raider nudged her.“Is that it?”
Kira looked in the direction he was pointing and saw the dim glow of the bar’s name.Multiple letters had burned out.Along with half of the cat’s paw that acted as its logo.The windows were dingy and covered in decades of grime that rendered them opaque.
“That’s it.”
“Here we go,” Raider muttered, striding into the bar first.
Finn and Dylan flanked Kira and Jin as they followed.
A few people looked up at their entrance.In one corner, a man held court.His clothes nicer than those around him.Tattoos decorated his forearms and neck.
Kira looked him over, dismissing him as she swept an eye over the room in search of Raider’s contact.Her gaze landed on the bartender a second before the tattooed man shoved aside one of his underlings for a better look at Raider.
“Chief?”The man opened his arms with a wide smile.“I can’t believe it.Son of a bitch.It really is you.What are you doing on Titan?”
“Friend of yours?”Kira asked, finding it amusing that for once it wasn’t her or Jin attracting the wrong kind of attention.
“We’re not friends,” Raider muttered.
“Want us to ignore him?”
“That’ll probably cause more problems than it’s worth.Let me see if I can shake him off first.”
“You do that.I’m going to get us drinks,” Kira said, already moving toward the bar.
“Wow!”Jin exclaimed as Raider faked a smile and let his not-buddy clamp him in a hug.“This is so much better than I ever imagined.”
Raider’s smile dropped and he glared at Jin over the man’s shoulder before faking his smile once again.
“Five years, asshole.How the hell have you been?”the man asked, letting go of him.
Kira pushed through the crowd to the bar, finding an open space next to a scantily clad woman resting with her back to it.
“Is this spot taken?”Kira asked.
“All yours, beautiful.”
Kira slid into the opening and set her hands on the bar.She didn’t have to wave down the bartender.He was already waiting for her.His eyes warm and his lips containing the barest trace of an upward tilt at the corners.
“What are you drinking?”
“I’ll have a solar flare and a ruby onyx,” Kira said, naming two drinks off the top of her head.
It didn’t really matter what she ordered.Human alcohol did nothing for her, and Raider would only pretend to drink in a situation like this.The beverages were more about blending in than anything else.
The man pretended to consider her.“You don’t look like an onyx girl.Why don’t you let me make you something special?”
“Sure—if you answer a question of mine first.”
